October 04, 2017
Latin American Studies Program at Cornell University./YouTube
This screen capture shows Drexel University professor George Ciccariello-Maher speaking during a lecture at Cornell University in April 2016. The former Drexel professor now works at New York University.
A Drexel University professor and self-styled troublemaker has again awakened the ire of American conservatives, this time for claiming "Trumpism" and "white supremacist patriarchy" are to blame for last Sunday's deadly massacre at a country music festival in Las Vegas.
George Ciccariello-Maher, a professor of politics and global studies, took to Twitter on Monday with a sequence of critical statements about the violent motive driving 64-year-old gunman Stephen Paddock, who took his own life after killing 59 concertgoers and injuring hundreds more from the window of his high-rise hotel room.
It's the white supremacist patriarchy, stupid.
— George Ciccariello (@ciccmaher) October 2, 2017
In a string of follow-up tweets, Ciccariello-Maher elaborated.
But liberals will drown out all discourse with a deafening chorus screeching "gun control."
— George Ciccariello (@ciccmaher) October 2, 2017
To believe that someone who would shoot down 50 people wouldn't circumvent any gun law you pass is the height of delusion.
— George Ciccariello (@ciccmaher) October 2, 2017
But liberal escapism means talking about easy questions and proposing easy non-solutions rather than talking about who kills and why.
— George Ciccariello (@ciccmaher) October 2, 2017
White people and men are told that they are entitled to everything. This is what happens when they don't get what they want.
— George Ciccariello (@ciccmaher) October 2, 2017
The narrative of white victimization has been gradually built over the past 40 years.
— George Ciccariello (@ciccmaher) October 2, 2017
It is the spinal column of Trumpism, and most extreme form is the white genocide myth.
— George Ciccariello (@ciccmaher) October 2, 2017
Yesterday was a morbid symptom of what happens when those who believe they deserve to own the world also think it is being stolen from them.
— George Ciccariello (@ciccmaher) October 2, 2017
This isn't the first time Ciccariello-Maher has attacked the notion of "white victimization" as a dangerous force in American politics and culture.
In a December 2016 tweet he claimed was satirical, Ciccariello-Maher said that all he wanted for Christmas that year was "White Genocide," an "imaginary concept" he believes the far-right has hatched to marshal urgency for a racist agenda.
At the time of the incident, Drexel called the tweet "utterly reprehensible" and "deeply disturbing" while defending the right of faculty to freely express their thoughts and opinions. Right-wing websites, including Breitbart and The Daily Caller, pounced on Ciccariello-Maher, who fired back in equal measure.
🔥 it's lit, fam 🔥 pic.twitter.com/BfMmHEheZh
— George Ciccariello (@ciccmaher) December 24, 2016
A few months later, Ciccariello-Maher generated yet another "2-controversy day" with an incendiary tweet about U.S. military servicemen.
Some guy gave up his first class seat for a uniformed soldier. People are thanking him. I'm trying not to vomit or yell about Mosul.
— George Ciccariello (@ciccmaher) March 26, 2017
The self-described radical political theorist, who previously taught at the University of California-Berkeley and the Venezuelan School of Planning in Caracas, elaborated on the tweet in a statement underscoring the consequences of the U.S. military's "brutal invasion and occupation" of Iraq.
In the days since Ciccariello-Maher's latest tweets, the professor has been busy batting down critics, including the conservative student publication Turning Point News, which wrote a reaction piece headlined, "Drexel University Doesn't Care About White People."
In which the trash at Turning Point misappropriate Kanye, misidentify Ho Chi Minh & invent quotes from fake students https://t.co/0YDPRCq3w0
— George Ciccariello (@ciccmaher) October 4, 2017
“The recent social media comments by George Ciccariello-Maher, associate professor of Politics and Global Studies at Drexel University, are his own opinion and do not represent the University’s views,” according to a statement from the university. “Drexel is deeply saddened by the tragic shooting in Las Vegas. The thoughts and prayers of the Drexel community are with the families of those affected by this senseless act of violence.”
